WOMEN USE DRUGS, North Carolina – 2020
Leading organization: NCSU, USA
North Carolina Survivors Union called upon women in the National Union, along with women who are local syringe exchange participants, friends and allies asking them what they identified as some of the specialized services for women who use drugs currently missing, yet desperately needed in harm reduction programs. Answers were collected for a month confirming the absence of: free tampons and sanitary napkins; a safe place to receive health care and support for pregnant women who use drugs; education on dealing with child protective services; and drop in centres and fixed sites offering a day, or set hours for women only. Selected quotes were highlighted by sharing them within a graphic frame and posting the image on all NCSU social media.
NCSU also reached out to the community of syringe exchanges and harm reduction programs in North Carolina, and asked them to support women who use drugs and start offering some of the services suggested. The programs that said yes were asked to display the poster North Carolina Survivors Union created using some of the WHRIN poster graphics asking others to invest in services for women who use drugs.
As the campaign week was about to start, House Bill 918 went to vote in the North Carolina senate. The bill would allow the expedited removal of children from mothers who use drugs, along with giving foster parents equal custody rights as the biological parents. The bill helped illustrate the extreme importance of programs offering services for pregnant women who use drugs.
To celebrate the International day of Action with a focus on women, NCSU created a video slideshow titled “Women Use Drugs”. The video shows some of the quotes NCSU had highlighted on social media, along with some of the harm reduction programs and women who work in harm reduction sharing the NCSU created poster in hope other programs will follow and invest in women.
